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Round-up: BCCI T20 League, April 1

D B Ravi Teja smashes century against Kerala

DB Ravi Teja slammed a blistering 68-ball 101 for Hyderabad against Kerala. Manish Pandey was another batsman amongst the runs; he scored 60 in Karnataka’s win. Here are the highlights of the day:

Central Zone

UPCA vs Rajasthan: UP clinched a five-wicket win over Rajasthan. A Rajpoot, P Chawla and K Yadav kept the Rajasthan batsmen on a tight leash. Striking at frequent intervals, they restricted Rajasthan to 115 for nine in Nagpur. Although UP then lost both their openers early, E R Dwivedi powered the team to victory with a 45 not-out. He was ably supported by U Sharma (38) in closing in on the target after UP were left on 12 for two.

MPCA vs Railways: In a low-scoring one-sided encounter, MPCA outplayed Railways to post a seven-wicket win their afternoon game.Opener, K Murali's run out in the first over set the tone for the Railways innings, after they opted to bat first. JG Saxena (four wickets) then wrecked the middle order. He was ably supported by Jatin Saxena, who picked two wickets, while Amarjeet Singh and S Jain claimed a wicket each to wrap up the MP innings for 86 in 19 overs. However, Anureet Singh and K Mishra dealt early blows to leave Railways on 12 for two. Anureet also sent back Naman Ojha. But H Bhatia and U Birla ensured that the team attained the paltry target without losing more wickets.

North Zone

Haryana vs Punjab: Bowlers helped claim a 32-run victory for Haryana, against Punjab. HV Patel and JJ Yadav led the charge as they held Punjab to 104 for nine. H Patel and JJ Yadav claimed three wickets each, while A H Hooda, Y K Chahal and KR Hooda took a wicket each.Earlier, electing to bat first, Haryana prodded their way to 136 before being bowled out. After the 60-run opening stand, wickets fell at regular intervals. The lower-order batting collapse saw the team get out with a ball to spare. Punjab's H Chawla took three wickets, and Manpreet Gony and Harbhajan Singh picked two wickets each, while GR Singh and S Kaul took a wicket apiece.

Himachal vs DDCA: DDCA opened their account in the North Zone T20 League with a thumping six-wicket win over Himachal in Mohali.After opting to field first, S Narwal and Parvinder Awana dealt early blows to leave Himachal on 10 for the loss of two wickets. Paras Dogra, however, ensured the team got to a respectable score with an unbeaten 40-run knock. Chasing 135 runs, Delhi openers - Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag - then set the tone of the innings with an 82-run opening stand. But both missed out on half-centuries. Rajat Bhatia and Milind Kumar then attained the target with 10 balls to spare.

Services vs J&K: After bowling J&K out for a paltry total, Services cantered to seven-wicket in the T20 match at Chandigarh. Electing to bat first, J&K were bundled out for 91 by the Shadab Nazar-led attack in 18.4 overs. Nazar claimed four for 13, while A Sakuja and A Sinha picked two wickets each and S Yadav took one. With 24 runs, Samiullah Beig was the top-scorer for J&K. Services then chased down the target in 16.4 overs. J&K's A G Ahanger sent back both SSCB openers, while A Dogra accounted for Anshul Gupta's wicket. Rajat Paliwal then took the team to an easy victory.

South Zone

Tamil Nadu vs Goa: Chasing 149, Sagun Kamat powered Goa to a seven-wicket win against Tamil Nadu. After setting up the game with a 112-run opening stand with Swapnil Asnodkar (41 off 27 balls), the opener remained unbeaten on 89 as he took the team across the line. Earlier, TN made 148 for six. Dinesh Karthik top-scored for TNCA with 35 runs.

Andhra vs Karnataka: Karnataka kicked off their BCCI T20 League campaign with a seven-wicket win over Andhra in the South Zone match. Manish Pandey (60) and Lokesh Rahul (41) helped chase down the 132-run target with ease. Earlier, electing to field first, Karnataka restricted Andhra to 131 for five. Vinay Kumar and Abrar Kazi claimed two wickets each, while Abhimanyu Mithun sent back Andhra opener K Bharat. Ricky Bhui made 53 not-out for Andhra.

Hyderabad vs Kerala: Hyderabad secured a 34-run win against Kerala after D B Ravi Teja set up the match in his team's favour with a 101 not-out.

Inserted to bat first, D B Ravi Teja powered Hyderabad to 179 for two with an unbeaten century against Kerala. Hanuma Vihari scored 47 as they set Kerala a challenging 180-run target. Although opener Rakesh KJ scored a 41-ball 48, the rest of the line-up wilted without much resistance. Pragyan Ojha picked three wickets, while Amol Shinde, A Ashish Reddy and Akash Bhandari took two wickets apiece to hold Kerala to 145 for nine.

East Zone

Assam vs Bengal: Bengal bowlers skittled out Assam for 117 to take the team to a 44-run victory over Assam after their batsmen made 161 for four. L U Shukla scored 53 not-out after Bengal were asked to bat first. With 161 runs to defend, Bengal’s bowling attack ran through the opposition. A Gani took three wickets, while Ashoke Dinda and S Lahiri picked two each.

Tripura vs Odisha: Chasing 117 against Tripura, Odisha sailed to a six-wicket win the T20 match. B Mohanty and J Behera helped dismantle the Tripura line-up by claiming two and three wickets respectively to bowl them out for 116. Led by PC Patel's 43 at the top of the order, Odisha then attained the target with an over to spare.

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Report: Sau vs Maha, T20 West Zone, 2014

Maharashtra beat Saurashtra in close finish

Maharashtra posted a four-wicket win after bowling Saurashtra out for 123 in the West Zone clash in Mumbai. After Samad Fallah gave Maharashtra their first breakthrough, two wickets each by Dominic Muthusawmi, Chirag Khurana and Ankit Bawne and three run outs helped them skittle the opposition out. Losing wickets at regular intervals, Maharashtra batsmen then scaled the target with two balls to spare in a tight finish.

Earlier, opting to bat first, Cheteshwar Pujara opened the batting with Sagar Jogiyani. But with 19 runs on the scorecard, Jogiyani edged the ball to the 'keeper and departed for 11. Pujara followed him back in the next over. Dominic Muthuswami’s direct hit found Pujara short of the crease while running to the non-striker’s end.

Sheldon Jackson and Jaydev Shah then added 50 runs for the third wicket until Chirag Khurana castled the latter. In the next over, Jackson too was back in the dugout. An Ankit Bawne delivery took the edge of the bat and was caught by the 'keeper.

At 73 for four, Saurashtra had two new batsmen at the crease – Arpit Vasavada and Kuldeep Raval. Raval was then dropped by Fallah while on nine as the ball lobbed up and the fielder running to the wicketkeeper’s area dropped the catch. The batsman got another life as Vijay Zol couldn’t hold on to a catch in the mid-wicket region. Making the most of the lives, the batsman then smashed Khurana for a six.

At 103 for five and less than five overs left, Saurashtra needed to accelerate. However, Khurana struck a run later to send back Dinesh Nakrani for zero. Four runs later, a superb piece of fielding by Zol saw Vasavada return to pavilion. With four balls left in the innings, Jaydev Unadkat replaced D Jadeja who was run out by Kedar Jadhav for eight. Trying to sneak in a single, he too was run out. Muthusawmi who affected the run out then disrupted Abhishek Bhat’s woodwork to bowl Saurashtra out for 123 with a ball still left in the innings.

Failure to build partnerships had left Saurashtra a few runs short of what they would have liked on the board. Kedar Jadhav’s seven-man bowling attack struck at regular intervals and kept the flow of runs in check.

While chasing, Maharashtra lost Zol with 11 runs on the board. Bawne then joined Harshad Khadiwale to take the innings forward. 38 runs later, Jadeja claimed the opener and Vasavada followed up with the wicket of Bawne to leave the team on 53 for three.

Kedar Jadhav lofted Jadeja for a six near the sight screen, while Tripathi launched the bowler into the stands a while later. In the next over though, Tripathi perished offering a catch to Pujara off Vasavada while looking to clear the fence. Naik too was sent back by Vasavada 12 runs later, leaving the match precariously poised.

It was left to skipper Jadhav and Shrikant Mundhe to take the team across the line. In the 18th over, Maharashtra batsmen claimed 10 runs off Unadkat to close in on the win. With the team within seven runs of the target, Jadhav’s miscued shot off Bhat was caught by Shah in the penultimate over of the game.

Then, with four runs needed from the last over, Khurana and Mundhe took the team across the line.